THE UNIVERSITY'S APPRENTICE GUIDE FOR THE BLIND IS GROWING UP

At four and a half months old, Atom, the prospective guide dog for the blind, is being raised for this wonderful mission partly at UM.

“He has already had his compulsory vaccinations, has grown a lot and is basically doing well in the tasks required," said Atom's puppy raiser, László Varga, IT officer at the UM's Directorate for Education and Quality Assurance. He stressed that their daily task now is socialisation and motivation without rewards.

“I can call him from 100 metres away, he waits for me, now I just have to reinforce this, so that he listens to the call, for example, when he is playing.” The basic aim at this stage is to make the dog feel comfortable with as many people as possible, and not just to bond with his handler.

“The foundation is paying special attention to this, which is why there will be a puppy swap on 8 January – this means that we will get another puppy from the litter for two weeks, during which time we will also have to hand Atom over to another foster carer. This will even out the parenting differences and the dog won't be so attached to us afterwards. He needs to get used to being comfortable with everyone and everywhere," he explained.

László Varga has joined the Baráthegy Guide Dog School's volunteer puppy raiser programme, which is the foundation of guide dog training. The puppy raiser will take in a puppy from the age of 2-3 months until the age of 12-15 months, when the puppy will be returned to the foundation to start its special training.